Anxiety

Saturday, 16 July 2016

Anxiety. We all experience it at some point in our life. It's something you can't avoid, whether you're anxious about going on a roller coaster or you've got it from a previous experience, it can eat away at you. Some people can suffer from this particular mental illness quite severely, it always somehow gets brushed aside as an issue you just have to deal with and easily get over. It's nothing like that at all. This feeling can last a lifetime for some.

I suffer with anxiety sometimes. It's something that I don't like to shout about because people have a tendency to ask 'why?' and it gets a bit exhausting explaining my thoughts when I was a ten year old kid, which led to my issues. When I was ten, something did happen to me which as a kid is pretty difficult to deal with. This led to me have constant panic attacks everyday. I was scared that I was going to die, I still suffer with these panic attacks occasionally. It came to a point in which I had to wake up two hours earlier than my normal time just to eat my breakfast in time for school. This was a major thing - I'm not going to lie, I used to be really chubby but when my anxiety kicked in I lost a lot of weight. After 5 years, I have few situations where I'm very anxious, but they will never disappear.

This isn't some sob story, I'm sorry if you feel this way. The point is everyone has a story. Most prefer to keep it quiet. Anxiety causes people a tonne of stress, when you're at school things can build up quicker and easier because children and teens are brutal sometimes. Here a few things that people with anxiety feel like to help you understand our situation....

1) 'Why are you doing this, bullying me? This is just making my situation worse. Please go away.' People never know the full story, think before you act - do you know what that person is going through?

2) It's difficult to go out and socialise sometimes, the fear of being judged for little things is always in the back (or front) of our mind. 'What if they think my outfit is stupid?' 'What if I trip and cause a huge scene?' It's like an abyss of 'What Ifs'.

3) Please don't tell us to 'Calm down'. It isn't going to work, in fact, it makes it worse sometimes.

4) Anxiety isn't something to be kept a secret but I'm not going to go around shouting about it. We don't want any attention, just to be left alone.

5) We can really appreciate you trying to help us but sometimes the best thing to do is just to give us a minute.

6) Never, and I mean never, call us 'attention seekers'. The only thing we want is to blend in and our issues to be invisible.

I've learnt to deal with my panic attacks through methods such as telling myself that 'I'm being stupid, I'm just tired.' and deep breathing. I've also aided my anxiety through dancing, drawing and this blog. Everyone has something that they can do to help themselves. If you have issues that you're tired of trying to cope with there are lots of ways to attempt to rid of them, or at least control. For example...

Listening to music

Focusing your mind on something

Finding a hobby like dancing or drawing

Eating a healthy diet

Breathing exercises

Talking to someone that you trust

Seeing a councilor or a support group

Keeping a diary

Starting a blog/Youtube channel

Physical exercise

Stepping out of your comfort zone can help dramatically

The idea of this blog was to not only help myself but help others too. So if you have something you want to talk about, even if it isn't to do with anxiety, please get in touch with me. DM me on Twitter (@OneUniqueBlog) or email me at SophieTheUnique@gmail.com I would love to hear from you and try to help my best. Or you could leave a comment if you really wish.

A panic attack is something I try to avoid on a daily basis. My worst time for experiencing them is in Science lessons during experiments. There are several ways of detecting a panic attack - it's best to know when one is coming because they are a lot easier to deal with before they've actually got serious. Panic attacks are scary things somethings you may feel when experiencing one are...

Racing heartbeat

Sweating (usually your hands)

Difficulty breathing/shortness of breathe

Nausea

Dizziness

Ringing in the ears

Trembling

I usually have a racing heartbeat, a shortness of breath and feel slightly dizzy. Sometimes my palms sweat and I feel a bit sick. I deal with them by telling myself that I'm tired and being stupid. Or sometimes I feel my pulse to make sure I am not dying, which is my main fear especially when I'm lying in bed at night and I have a spontaneous attack. (I do not recommend this method, this could potentially make your panic attacks worse). Panic attacks have an average time length of 5-20 minutes, it can vary depending on your situation. If you find that your heart rate is not lowering after your panic attack, or you still feel ill, I would suggest that you go and see a doctor as this could be a serious issue.

Thank you for reading this, I hope it helped somebody. I'm sorry if you found this boring but I thought that it is an issue that needed addressing. The important thing to remember is that there is always someone to talk to. Don't hesitate to contact me if you feel the need to.